Changes, and a Giveaway!

January 13, 2016

This post officially marks the beginning of my sixth year of blogging. Two days ago (11 Jan 2016) was the fifth anniversary of the publication of my very first post and, thereby, the launching of the blog. Over the years I’ve posted ninety-seven Confessions, twenty Nu-Views, fifteen Retro-Views, and nearly one hundred fifty (!) reviews of new episodes, DVDs, and audio adventures (with a couple of books thrown in for good measure). I’ve also written a smattering of miscellaneous posts describing my experiences at conventions and such.

For the past five years, I have posted at least once a week, every Wednesday and then some. I’ve made something like three hundred entries on Confessions of a Neowhovian, and I don’t have any plans to stop. However, as I stated at the beginning of my not-tongue-in-cheek-enough April Fool’s post last year, that has become wearing. Unless I’m writing a review or a Nu-View, the seeds that turn into posts are ever harder to come by.

In order not to burn myself out completely, then, I’ve decided to make some changes to my blogging practices that I hope will keep both me and you, my readers, engaged. Specifically, I’m going to change the frequency of my posts to allow myself more time both to devise interesting topics and to focus on my other (fiction) writing projects.

The new structure I have in mind involves a semi-monthly posting schedule. Now, instead of every Wednesday, there will be new material on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. On fourth Wednesdays there will be a review of an audio adventure; second Wednesdays will have a Confession or other category post. Obviously, exceptions will crop up. For example, February will also include the usual spate of Gallifrey One notes. I’ll also do weekly episode reviews whenever Series Ten finally goes out (which signs currently suggest will be 2017).

I’m also hoping that this more relaxed schedule will give me more energy to create additional content for future editions of The Neowhovian Experience. It has been so long since I last published one—about three years now—that many of my readers may not even be aware of the existence of the books-of-the-blog I’ve published. In each edition, I collect the complete text of all the posts from a given year, along with some exclusive content unavailable anywhere else.

I’m now three editions behind, but there’s good news on that front: all three pending editions (2013, 2014, and 2015) will be available within the next month or so! In the interest of simply getting them done and available I have not included any additional materials this time (thus my desire for more time and mental energy to do so for the 2016 edition).

To jump start the publication cycle and drum up interest, I will be doing a Neowhovian Experience Giveaway. Up for grabs are autographed copies of The Neowhovian Experience, with six overall winners. One lucky reader will get a full set of all five editions (2011-2015), while five others will each get a single edition—one of each year will be available, with winners getting their choice of remaining editions as they are drawn.

All you need to do in order to enter is leave a comment on this post with a way for me to contact you in case you win (Twitter handle is probably best if you have one)—even just a promise to keep an eye on the blog for the winner announcement will do. However, if you prefer to be contacted via email, please do NOT post your email address in the comments (safety first, people!); use the contact link at the bottom of the column to the right to send me an email from your contact address of choice with a brief message including the name under which you made your giveaway entry.

The entry period for the giveaway will run for five weeks, ending at the end of the day on 17 February 2016 (which should allow me time to make finishing touches on both ebook and print editions, including time for my cover artist to complete the final). At that time, I’ll do my random drawing, alert the winners, and post a list of winners on the blog.

If there is anything you’d be interested in having me post about in 2016, I’d love to hear those suggestions in the comments, too. Thanks to all my readers for sharing these last five years with me. I look forward to more years to come!